


Beating + Spinal Board + Shock

by Gretti_writes



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [8]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: FebuWhump2021, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Torture, Spinal Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:40:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29297517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gretti_writes/pseuds/Gretti_writes
Summary: Jack saves Mac after a savage beating.
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2140011
Comments: 9
Kudos: 38





	Beating + Spinal Board + Shock

**Author's Note:**

> Nearly forgot to post! Whoops, it's still the 8th though!
> 
> Febuwhump Day 8 Prompt - 'Hey, Hey, this is no time to sleep'
> 
> Thanks beta @teamimprov
> 
> Enjoy!

Jack bursts into the room; gun drawn. His TAC team charges past him, clearing the room, allowing him to take in the scene before him. His kid is hanging, wrists tied together, from the ceiling. Mac’s head is bowed, and Jack can just make out his chest rising and falling. He has no shirt and the marks on his chest make Jack want to punch the bastard who did this to his kid. Mac has obviously been tortured. There are electrical burns on his abdomen, large knife cuts on his ribs.

As Jack looks across, Mac’s body twists on the rope securing him, and Jack catches a glimpse of his back. He thinks he might throw up. There isn’t an area of Mac’s back that has been left untouched. What catches Jack’s attention though, are the bruises already starting to form up the spine.

Jack shouts for a medic and makes his way over to Mac. He gently places a hand on Mac’s chest.

‘Mac, buddy, it’s Jack. Are you with me?’

Mac groans but opens his eyes.

‘Hey there. We are gonna get you down from here ok and then we are going home. Got a really cosy bed waiting for you Hoss’.

‘Back hurts.’ Mac manages to get out. Jack can see the pain in Mac’s eyes.

‘Alright. We’re gonna fix that. Brody is right here with me’.

‘Hey Mac’, Brody says. ‘We’re going to take this nice and slow but I’m not going to lie, this is going to hurt. I’ve got one of the guys by the pulley and he’s going to slowly lower you down until your feet are on the floor. I don’t want you to do anything. You just be as still as you can and let us do the work, ok?’

‘Yeah’, Mac whispers.

‘Ok, here we go’. Brody signals an agent to start lowering Mac down. As soon as his feet touch the floor, Mac is surrounded by TAC team agents. A cervical collar is secured around his neck and Jack’s hands are on his head.

‘You’re doing great, just keep breathing Mac’, Jack says into his ear.

‘Mac, we are going to put a spinal board behind you and then lower you down the rest of the way. Just let your hands hang where they feel comfortable, we’ll undo them in a minute’, Brody tells him.

Mac can’t nod but Brody knows he understands. On the count of three the TAC team slides the board under Mac and lowers him the rest of the way. He screams out in pain, fast breathing pulling on his chest wounds. Mac can feel Jack’s fingers in his hair but he’s in too much pain to focus on the words that are being whispered in his ear. He feels an oxygen mask get put over his face and focuses on trying to slow his breathing down.

Brody’s voice is suddenly filling his ears.

‘Really good job Mac. I know that really hurt. I’m putting in an IV now and we’ll get you going on some pain meds. Can you tell me if anything else hurts?’

‘Everything’, Mac mumbles under the mask.

Brody nods and smiles down at him. ‘We’ll get meds on board and then we are going to package you up and get you on the chopper. We’ll be back at Phoenix in no time’.

Mac manages a thumbs up and drifts off. He knows he is safe, and Jack is there.

**MacJackMacJackMacJackMacJackMacJackMacJackMacJack**

Mac comes to as the chopper touches down at the Phoenix. He has no idea how long he’s been out. The transfer to a gurney is quick and suddenly they are rushing down corridors, Mac watching the ceiling tiles go by.

They stop in what Mac knows is a trauma bay; unfortunately, he’s been in enough of them. A figure looms above him and then comes into focus, it’s Dr Simpson, the trauma specialist.

‘Hey Mac, you’re at the Phoenix now, we’re gonna take care of you. Hannah is here. She’s going to stay by your head and let you know what’s going on. We’re going to move you across onto the bed now’.

Dr Simpson disappears out of sight and Mac feels himself be lifted off the gurney and onto the bed. Hannah appears in his line of vision.

‘Hey’, she smiles. ‘How are you doing? How’s the pain?’

‘Er’, Mac is trying not to be distracted by everything that is happening to him. He can feel someone has removed the blanket and nurses have started cutting away his clothes. He suddenly feels embarrassed, he doesn’t want these people to see him like this. Then he remembers, it’s their job. They aren’t judging. Mac feels someone lift up his arm and there’s the familiar feeling of a blood pressure cuff being wrapped around it. Someone else has attached a pulse ox to his finger.

‘Can’t you cover me up’, Mac says, not answering Hannah’s question.

‘We will as soon as we can’, Hannah says before looking up and signalling to someone. ‘Do you remember, I asked you how the pain was?’

‘Oh yeah, it’s ok. Brody said he would give me the good stuff’. Mac answers.

Hannah smiles again. ‘Well, that’s good. You let me know if it changes. It looks like we are ready to get you off this board now Mac. You don’t need to do anything; we are just going to roll you onto your side and Dr Simpson is going to look at your back while you’re turned’.

Mac hears the count of three and then his view has changed. He is looking at the wall of the trauma room.

‘Where’s Jack?’, he asks.

‘Jack is in the room. You can’t see him at the moment, but he hasn’t left. He’s just staying out the way while we do our thing. As soon as I can, I’ll let him come over. Just know he’s here if you need him’.

‘Thanks’, Mac says.

‘Mac’, Dr Simpson starts. I want you to tell me if you can feel my hand running down your back. Can you feel it here?’ Dr Simpson puts his hand on the back of Mac’s shoulder blades.

‘Yes’, Mac replies.

‘Great. I want you to tell me when I take my hand off ok?’

‘Yeah’.

There is silence, except for the machines, as Dr Simpson runs his hand down Mac’s back.

‘There!’ Mac says. Hannah has looked up to watch and can see that Dr Simpson’s hand is in fact still on Mac’s back, just in line with the lumbar vertebrae. The room gathers itself as it becomes apparent Mac might have a spinal injury. She schools her expression as she looks back down at Mac and smiles.

‘All done. I think they’re going to dress some of your injuries before we turn you back. Are you ok laying like this a bit longer?’ Hannah asks.

‘Yeah, it doesn’t hurt too bad’, Mac replies.

Across the room, Jack has just watched the test and is trying to hold it together. As soon as he saw Mac’s back earlier, he knew a spinal injury might be a possibility. He swipes his hand across his cheek to stop the tears from falling. He knows he has to be strong right now. They obviously haven’t told Mac; he’d know if they had. He’s glad that Hannah is the one over there. He’s not sure he could keep up a poker face. He watches as some of the nurses start cleaning Mac’s wounds while Dr Simpson seems to be doing something else.

With horror, Jack realises that the doc is about to stick his finger up Mac’s backside and his kid has no idea. Thankfully, it’s over pretty quickly and Dr Simpson strips off his gloves and comes over.

‘It’s his spine, isn’t it?’ Jack spits out.

‘It’s definitely a concern. You saw when I ran my hand down his back. He lost feeling around L1/L2. The rectal exam I just did tells me that Mac has no feeling there and his muscles there are flaccid, so I suspect a cord injury’, Dr Simpson explains.

Jack’s jaw drops and he has to stop himself from crying out. He looks at Mac, completely unaware that his world is about to come crashing down around him.

‘Does this mean he won’t walk again?’ Jack asks, not really wanting to know the answer.

‘I don’t know’, Dr Simpson replies. ‘We need to take him for an MRI and CT now to see what’s going on and whether there are any other injuries. Once he’d had the scans, we’ll know more, and I’ll speak to him. At the moment, we need to keep him as calm as possible, so his blood pressure doesn’t rise’. Dr Simpson pauses and puts his hand on Jack’s shoulder. ‘If you don’t think you can do that right now, it isn’t a failure. This could be life changing news and it’s difficult, even for the best of us, to keep it professional right now. We all know Mac’.

Jack nods his head, knowing the doc is right. He doesn’t think he can face Mac right now. He’d know straight away. Jack never could keep anything from him.

‘I’ll see him after the scans. I’ll go update Matty’, Jack tells Dr Simpson before walking towards the door.

Mac is oblivious to this whole conversation as he lays facing the wall.

‘You ought to put some nice pictures here to look at, if people are gonna have to face this way for such a long time’, Mac points out to Hannah.

She laughs. ‘You’re right. I never really thought about it, but I guess the wall is pretty boring to look at. We’re nearly done though. Hey, hey, no time for sleeping’.

Mac feels her pat his cheek and didn’t realise he had closed his eyes.

‘Sorry’, he slurs.

‘It’s ok. We’re going to roll you back and Dr Simpson wants to speak to you’.

Mac hears the count and then he’s rolled back; the ceiling tiles replacing his view of the wall. Dr Simpson appears in his line of sight as Hannah is taping his head down.

‘How are you feeling Mac?’

‘Alright. I think the meds are good. I’m a bit tired’.

‘That’s understandable. Your body is going through a lot right now. I just want to give you a quick update. We have dressed all the wounds on your back. I am a bit concerned about the amount of bruising though, and Brody said you complained of back pain earlier. Therefore, we are going to take you for some scans now to see what’s going on. A CT and an MRI scan. Once we’ve got those, we should be able to give you a better idea of what’s going on’.

Mac lets Dr Simpson’s voice wash over him, trying to take in everything he is saying. There’s something niggling at the back of his brain though and he suddenly realises what it is.

‘How strong are those pain meds you gave me?’ Mac asks.

Dr Simpson frowns and then answers. ‘Not as strong as we would normally use, as I know you would complain about being foggy headed’.

Mac’s breathing starts to increase.

‘Mac, are you in pain? Can you tell me what’s wrong?’ Dr Simpson asks, eyeing the monitors behind Mac’s head.

‘I… I can’t feel my legs. I thought it was the meds, but I realise now I couldn’t feel any hands on me when you rolled me… or, or…. When you took off my clothes’. Mac can feel the tears running down and pooling in his ears. He can hear that the monitors beeping has increased but he just can’t calm down. What if this is it? What if he never walks again? He’ll be stuck in the war room, not able to help anybody, keep his team safe.

‘I can’t do this’, Mac pleads out loud. ‘I can’t be paralysed’. He pauses to catch his breath, his oxygen mask fogging up constantly. ‘This isn’t happening, this can’t be happening’. Mac starts to shake his head, trying to get rid of the thoughts.

He doesn’t hear Hannah or Dr Simpson talking to him, telling him he needs to stay still. Their hands on his head and shoulders, trying to hold him still. He doesn’t hear Dr Simpson call for a sedative. He’s too overwhelmed by everything until it all goes black.


End file.
